Sand-pipe for locomotives



(No Model.)

I). A. REAGAN.

SAND PIPE FOR LOCOMOTIVES.

No. 431,150. Patented July 1, 1890.

FIG.I

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UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DOMINIOK A. REAGAN, OF ALTOONA, PENNSYLVANIA.

SAN D-PIPE FOR LOCOMOTIVES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 431,150, dated July 1, 1890.

Application filed November 19, 1888. Renewed December 7, 1889. Serial No. 332.894. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that l, DOMINICK A. REAGAN, of Altoona, county of Blair, State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and ,useful Improvement in Sand-Pipes for Locomotives, of which the following is a true and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to the pipe through which, in loconiotiveengines, the sand is led from the sand-box to the track beneath the driving-wheels; and my object is to improve the sanding operation by regulating the delivery of sand upon the track and to economize in the use of sand. I accomplish this by contracting the sand-pipe at a point below the valve, which controls the flow of sand from the box. Preferably I make the con traction at or near the delivery end of the pipe, and in all cases this contraction should be so proportioned to the area of the pipe as to sensibly check the flow of sand and allow it to issue at a much slower rate than its normal flowthrough the uncontracted portion of the pipe. As a result of this construction, the sand can pass with great rapidity from the valve to the contraction, which I call the regulator, and issues from this regulator with its velocity and volume checked, the quantity being quite sufficient and the loss of velocity diminishin g the tendency of the sand to bounce 0d of the rail. I

Another advantage of my device is that the engineer, having opened the sand-valve and filled the sand-pipe above the regulator, can close the valve and attend to other matters, knowing that the sand will continue to issue from the regulator for a considerable time and in substantially uniform quantity.

Reference being now had to the drawings which illustrate my invention, Figure 1 is a side View of a portion of a locomotive, showing the sand-box, its valve, and the sand-pipe in their usual position. Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a sand-pipe having my improvement, and Figs. 8 and 4 are views of adjustable regulating devices for use in my improvement.

A is the sand-box, which may be of any usual construction.

B is the valve controlling the admission of sand from the box to the sand-pipe.

C is the sand-pipe.

E is a shield, the use of which is explained in my former patent, No. 307,062, dated July 26,1887, and which I prefer to use, though it forms no essential part of my present invention.

E is a teat or hollow projection formed in shield E, so as to be essentially a continuation of the sand-pipe O, which is screwed into the shield c.

D, as shown, is a plug made to fit in teat E, and having a perforation (Z considerably smaller than the area of pipe C. This plug D forms the regulator, and may of course be formed integral with the teat E, or formed or inserted in pipe 0 itself, its position. being immaterial, save that I prefer to place it at the bottom of the sand-pipe, and it is clearly more convenient toform it in the shield E, as shown, when such a shield is used. It is desirable toarrange the regulator so that its orifice can be varied in size, and this is conveniently done by using perforated disks such as F-either with round or elongated holes, such as f or f in Figs. 3 and 4:. These disks are inserted in the pipe, so as to rest upon the shoulders of the permanent plug or regulator D, as is shown in Fig. 2.

In operation the engineer opens the valve B, and the sand at once fills the pipe 0 down to the regulator, from which it issued, and is delivered upon the track in a stream of regulated amount and velocity, the flow continuing after the valve Bis closed until the sand in pipe 0 is gradually delivered.

I am aware that sand-pipes have been heretofore designed in which the lower ends were contracted; but in such prior devices the contracted ends were bent at a sharp angle with the sand-pipe proper and extended back almost parallel with the rails, a steam or air jet being used to force the sand out of them. These devices were not intended or adapted to operate by gravity, and as the sand was necessarily rapidly forced out of the pipe by the jet the feature of a gradual feed, which is an important function of my device, was not present in them, nor was my other object attained-to Wit, the absence of velocity in the sand falling on the railfor the force of the jet would throw the sand out with even greater force than it would acquire in falling through an unobstructed pipe. I am also aware that another device has been described, in which a reservoir-box was interposed in the sand-pipe about midway between the sand-box and the bottom of the pipe, and in which, by means of a peculiar plug, it was proposed to regulate and contract the orifice through which the sand escaped from said box. My device differs from this in having the regulating-orifice at its bottom and in utilizing the pipe itself as a reservoilm My feature of forming the regulating contraction at the bottom of the pipe and making itsubstantially perpendicular to the rail results in the sand issuing with practically no velocity and free from the tendency to bounce oil? the rail, and at the same time there. is no danger of the sand being clogged, and it flows in a slow even stream, while in the device above referred to the sand would acquire considerable velocity in falling from the reservoirbox.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In combination with the sand-box of a locomotive and the sand-pipe leading therefrom, a valve controlling the admission of sand to the pipe, and a regulator consisting of a contraction of the orifice of the pipe situatcd at the bottom of the sand-pipe, the said contracted orifice being substantially perpendicular to the rails, as and for the purpose specified.

2. In combination with the sand-box of a locomotive and the sand-pipe leading therefrom, a valve controlling the admission of sand to the pipe. a nozzle adapted to be secured to the sand-pipe and having a perforation of smaller area than said pipe, and a perforated disk adapted to lie in the nozzle, so as to further contract its opening, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. In combination with the sand-box of a locomotive and the sand-pipe leading therefrom, a valve controlling the admission of sand to the pipe, a shield E, having teat E adapted to be secured to the end of the pipe, and plug D, having a contracted orifice cl secured in said teat, all substantially as and for the purpose specified.

. DOMINICK A. REAGAN.

Witnesses:

F. O. MOCORMIK, W. M. HAINES. 

